CONTEST ALERT: Tomorrow night the indie-elite will gather at Terminal 5 for The Plug Awards -- featuring Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, St. Vincent, José Gonzalez, Dizzee Rascal, The Forms, DiVinci and more. Tickets are sold out, so you can either watch the show here, or you can win tickets from us! We're giving away 5 pairs, starting now. Just email GothamistContest@gmail.com and tell us why you want to go. MUSIC: White Williams,......

Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist A posthumous tribute wall dedicated to singer/songwriter Elliot Smith sat defaced by graffiti for months on end -- LAist said enough, so did the fans and city council.SFist was surprised to learn that chronic presidential candidate Ralph Nader picked former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez as his running mate.Phillyist explored the possibilities of green cleaning.In the latest edition of Reel Toronto, a bi-weekly feature looking at films shot in Toronto......

The police are continuing to look for James Gonzalez, who is suspected of fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend at a grocery store as well as stabbing her co-worker. The attack occurred Friday afternoon at the East Village Key Foods location. Gonzalez, 42, who had done some part-time work at the Key Foods where he met 24-year-old Tina Negron and dated her on-and-off for a year up until a few months ago, fled the store on foot.......

Images from WNBC and WABC The police are looking for a man suspected of stabbing two Key Food employees, one of whom died at a hospital two hours after the afternoon attack. Other employees at the East Village store say James Gonzalez, a part-time maintenance worker, stabbed ex-girlfriend Tina Negron with a 10-inch knife, because he was upset over their breakup. Negron had been in the elevated manager's booth when Gonzalez apparently attacked. Bookkeeper......

The fight over the right for school children to bear cell phones in schools moved to the Appellate Court, where lawyers for NYC and public school students' parents appeared before a five-judge panel. This comes after the City Council passed a bill allowing cell phones in schools, which the Mayor vetoed. Many parents believe cell phones are critical for keeping in touch with their children, in case of an emergency or just to check in......

Our favorite bespectacled WNBC political reporter was beaten and robbed in the West Village last night! Naturally, WNBC has the scoop. Apparently Jay DeDapper, who had finished reporting on the Democratic debate for the 11PM newscast, stopped at a pizzeria on his way home.After he left the restaurant, three people jumped him, hitting him on the head and kicking him, according to authorities. DeDapper fought back, and the attackers eventually fled. The attackers didn't have......

The early Friday shooting of three people by a man angry over being dumped has claimed a second victim. Jessica Gonzalez, died right after being shot in the face twice, while her new boyfriend, Nicholas Maldonado, died yesterday from injuries sustained in the shooting. Gonzalez was breaking up with Muammer "Mike" Aldailam in a parked car outside the Morrisana section deli where Aldailam worked. Adailam went into such a rage that he used a .380-caliber......

Transit police officer Gregory Chin is being hailed as a hero for stopping a crazed man who had just stabbed two people in Murray Hill from inflicting more violence. The Post and Daily News interviewed Chin, who was off-duty when he saw Lee Coleman attacking 67-year-old Susan Barron with a variety of knives (knives that Coleman stole from a restaurant) on Saturday morning. Chin explained that he and his girlfriend had left the Gemini Diner......

The two detectives who were shot during an early morning Bronx shootout yesterday managed to avoid serious injuries and the NYPD says it's a near miracle. Detectives Daniel Rivera and William Gonzalez, along with other three other cops, were trying to serve a warrant to a suspect in a bodega shooting when the suspect fired at them five times. Rivera's forehead was grazed and he left the hospital with only a scar - and smiles.......

Two veteran detectives, Daniel Rivera and William Gonzalez (both 41 years old), were grazed by gunfire early this morning. One detective was wounded in the forehead and the other in the leg, during a shootout in the East Tremont section of the Bronx at Webster Ave. and 188th St. around 5:30 a.m. The two cops were in the process of serving an arrest warrant to 20-year-old Jermaine Taylor for questioning related to a Bronx bodega......

REMINDER: Don't forget about the Atlantic Antic Festival, which we wrote all about yesterday. EVENT: The d.u.m.b.o arts center (dac) presents the 11th Annual Art Under the Bridge Festival. The three-day fête takes up 30 blocks bringing together over 1500 visual artists, 250 open studios and offices, and an expected 20,000 attendees. Given much of the music biz in this city has offices in that area, they'll be taking part as well. The Deli Magazine......

The Wizard of Oz has really been updated for current times. Now, in addition to Toto, Dorothy carries a bag from the 5th Avenue Apple Store with her. At least that's what Dorothy, played by Ian Kennedy, did as part of the Yankees' rookie hazing tradition where green players dress up in crazy outfits. We expect this version of The Wizard of Oz to come to an off, off, off Broadway location in the......

The Post and Daily News have a number of editorials and columns about the Deutsche Bank building fire response and fallout. The Post continues to demand FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta's resignation and faulted Mayor Bloomberg for standing by Scoppetta. The Daily News' Juan Gonzalez wonders why Bloomberg and Scoppetta have gone into "virtual hiding" and blasts Bloomberg for sending lobbyists to kill "legislation that would force tougher enforcement of safety laws by the city......

Padres 9, Mets 8 (10 innings): After playing two back-and-forth games, the Mets and Padres pulled out all the stops in this 10-inning affair. All the stops, that is, except the ability to hold leads. The Mets rallied from a 6-1 deficit in the sixth inning to take a one-run lead, but Billy Wagner blew that as the Padres took the lead in the top of the ninth. Not to worry. For the second time......

READING: Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Presidential candidate John Edwards, will have the spotlight on her for the night as she reads from her memoir, Saving Graces. The tale of her teenage son's death and her current battle with cancer may have you grabbing for a box of tissues (and voting for her hubby?). 7pm // Borders [461 Park Ave] // Free MOVIE: Postponed until Monday > Head out in the rain for a screening of......

This is a harrowing crime that makes us question humanity. Twenty-one-year-old Joseph Wallace of Staten Island was charged with first-degree manslaughter, second-degree sexual abuse, and endangering the welfare of a child in the May 21 death of his 2-month old son, Joseph Jr. Warning: Extremely disturbing details ahead. Authorities had been investigating the baby's death for the past few months, and an autopsy revealed that there were lacerations in the baby's rectum. The NY......

The short, sad life of Hailey Gonzalez ended yesterday when hospital staff at Richmond University Medical Center on Staten Island removed the 21-month-old from life support. Gonzalez had been in the hospital since last Thursday, when the police discovered that her mother and her mother's boyfriend had thrown her against a playpen and beaten her near the point of death. The couple had waited hours before calling 911, as Hailey foamed from the mouth and......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an escaped prsioner at East Fordham Rd. and Webster Ave. in the Bronx, a gas leak on Main St. in Queens, and a pedestrian struck on East 55th St. and 2nd Ave. in Manhattan. FEMA toured parts of Staten Island to determine if any homeowners were entitled to federal aid following last week's tornado and torrential rainstorms. Mayor Bloomberg shared some tips on how to be more environmentally friendly......

There was a sickening coincidence yesterday: A report was released that faulted the city's Administration for Children's Services for contributing to the deaths of 10 children in families it was supposedly monitoring, just as a 20-month toddler was brutally beaten by her mother - who was under investigation by the ACS - and her mother's boyfriend. Twenty-four-year-old Marlene Medina and 30-year-old Edwin Garcia allegedly repeatedly "slammed" Hailey Gonzalez into a pack-and-play crib, according to the......

On the Gothamist Newsmap, there are a few incidents that are not mapped but simply listed as "Unusual Rescue," with the time and place, and occasionally we learn what was so unusual about them. For instance, yesterday at 5:06PM, the unusual rescue at Avenue W and East 27th Street in Sheepshead Bay turned out to be a teenager stuck in a mailbox. Really. The Daily News reports that the kid's friends dared him to go......

Soldier Jonathan Aponte is facing criminal charges of conspiracy and falsely reporting an incident after admitting that he hired a hit man to shoot him. Why did he hire a hit man? Because Aponte didn't want to return to Iraq. The 20-year-old Bronx resident, his wife Alexandra Gonzalez, and the "hitman," Felix Padilla, all face jail time for the plot. Aponte had apparently joked that he wanted to get shot in the leg to avoid......

Distributer of royalties, BMI, filed a federal lawsuit against Jay-Z's 40/40 Club yesterday. The performing right organization holds the licensing rights to 6.5 million songs, and apparently plenty of them are being played at the club, the lawsuit cites "unauthorized public performance of musical compositions." In other words, Jay-Z has been holding out and skimping on royalties owed to fellow musicians! The Post reports that Michael Jackson, R. Kelly and over a dozen music publishers......

There's nothing like testifying in front of Congress as the Daily News puts you on the front cover and asks you to "come clean" about the post-WTC collapse toxic air in an editorial. Today, Christie Todd Whitman appeared before a Democratic-controlled Congress; the Daily News editorial demanded that former EPA head explain why she and the EPA led New Yorkers to believe the air downtown was safe. During her testimony, Whitman spent the time denouncing......

Having fun yet, Governor Spitzer? The new governor slogged through his first Legislative session by having a fight with Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno stall many possible deals. Spitzer said that Bruno's was blocking many issues, such as congestion pricing, campaign reform, and expanding the criminal DNA database, because Bruno wanted a half-billion dollar package for capital projects. Spitzer said, "much of [the package], if not most of it, [was] pork. It was dripping fat;......

On June 6, 2004, a woman's dead body was found in a steamer trunk on East 13th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. Years later, the police have found the murderer. Or, rather, the murderer found them. The Post reports that Michael Mohr of Arizona appeared at a precinct to confess. Mohr said that Jesus Christ made him confess, after undergoing a religious conversion. Apparently Mohr and the victim, a homeless woman named Myrna Gonzalez,......

As we mentioned earlier this week, the vendors who set up shop at the Red Hook ballfields may be at risk for losing their permit. According to the New York Times, the vendors have operated for years under a series of temporary use permits, but now they will have to place a formal bid with the city in order to remain in the space. But the vendors are not guaranteed to win this bid, so......

Yesterday was Good Friday, and Christians in the city remembered the day that Jesus Christ was crucified. One group, Communion and Liberation, carried a cross across the Brooklyn Bridge to St. Peter's Church on Barclay as part of the Way of the Cross reenactment. One of the Christian organization's members told NY1, "It always has a special significance that we commemorate that day also as part of Good Friday, because it's the idea of......

Joshua White is renowned for his light show at the Fillmore East (not to be confused with the inanely re-branded The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza) in the late sixties and early seventies. Employing an arsenal of various trailblazing effects, including the now-iconic “liquid light”, the Joshua Light Show catapulted Fillmore crowds into cosmic depths from which many have yet to return. In his post-Fillmore life, White has gone on to a career in......

NY Mag's Best of New York is out. Want to know what's good in your hood? Here's a handy little chart that will direct you to just that. Here's a glance at some of the more fun categories: Best impromptu dance party: No Malice Palace, 197 East 3rd Street (take that cabaret laws!). Best zoo animal: Sasha the Siberian tiger, Bronx Zoo. Cheap men's haircut: Frank's Chop Shop, 19 Essex Street. (Wu-Tang Clan and actor......

We noticed a short NY Times review of documentary film that instantly intrigued us. The Cats of Mirikitani is about Jimmy Mirkitani, an elderly homeless Japanese-American man, who filmmaker Linda Hattendorf meets when he is drawing cats under the awning of a SoHo grocery. The two become friends and Hattendorf started shooting the documentary about him in 2001. Mirkitani was born in Sacramento in 1920, was raised in Hiroshima, and returned to the U.S.,......